After seventeen years, the chairman of the Commission for Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection in the Krakow City Council will change. On May 31, 2023, Grzegorz Stawowy was ousted from this position.
changes in the city of kings
Some things seem eternal in Krakow - the Old Town, the Wawel Castle and the presidency of Jacek Majchrowski. The same was true for the chairman of the City Planning Commission, Grzegorz Stawowy, who held the post for 17 years. However, Stawowy was dismissed from the role at the end of May this year.
The motion to dismiss Stawowy from his position as chairman came from Lukasz Maślona, a councilor of the "Krakow for Residents" club. The resolution proposed by the councilman contains a one-sentence justification, which reads:
The committee requests the dismissal of Councilman Grzegorz Stawowy from the position of chairman of the committee.
Nineteen councilors voted in favor of the dismissal, nine abstained, and twelve councilors voted against the dismissal.
background of the dismissal
The justification for the motion to recall Stawowy contains only one sentence, but the discussion itself turned out to be more elaborate. The councilors opting for the dismissal of the chairman in their arguments suggested restricting access to information provided by residents, abusing the chairman's function, and also drew attention to issues of enacting ecological uses.
Stawowy counters the arguments of, among others, Lukas Maślona, pointing out that he has not received a single request for correspondence in four years. He sees his appeal as a political act, unsupported by a substantive decision.
The background to the decision was also said to be the issue of establishing a local plan for the area on Juliusz Lea Street - which, as reported by the lovekrakow.pl portal, was said to be linked to the family of councilman Lukasz Gibala. The Commission for Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection, at the request of Grzegorz Stawowy, issued a negative opinion to the draft local plan.
TheKrakow City Council will now face the election of a new commission chairman. The change will be further driven by the upcoming local government elections, which will take place next April.
